The Spire needs obedience
by evonnecropolis
Summary: Still taking suggestions.  I'm going pretty slow at this one, but I think I know how to get to where I'm going.  Review at will!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

Obedience.

That was the word he'd heard for almost a decade now.

Obedience.

The Commandant was now a product of obedience.

He'd been human once. At least he vaguely recalled being so, but remembering was dangerous behind the walls of The Spire.

He stood in his quarters, looking out the wall opening to the dock below. The fresh recruits were arriving.

The Spire was an Old Kingdom place that Lucien Fairfax had searched for relentlessly, finally finding much of it below the surface of the sea.

Lord Fairfax employed many men to rebuild the Spire, but he spent much of his time with the man who could only somewhat recall being human.

He was now called The Commandant. He could not recall if he had a name before that. He could only remember the pain. Pain and the blood from the cutting of his flesh. There were now pieces of The Spire jutting from his skin and from his head. With these pieces of stone, he could use his Will to wield power. With just a though, he could strike a man down.

The Commandant could even now feel the pain of the stones being sewn into his skin. How he had fought! But he could not escape the leather straps that held him in place. The face of the man he now served standing over him those years past looming over him. A face he respected. A face he hated.

As the Commandant idly watched the new recruits, he caught sight of the one he was waiting for. The woman. The woman who won The Crucible.

There were women here, of course there were. There was cleaning to be done, meals to be cooked and laundry to be washed, but the woman who was coming down the gangplank would not be doing any of these menial chores. She was the one who would be the first woman at the Spire to help oversee its construction. He expected obedience from her.

The Commandant squinted, trying to see her better from his high vantage point. The woman couldn't have been much more than 16 hands high. Her? That little slip of a woman won The Crucible? It was laughable if the Commandant were capable of laughing. It was a wonder she had survived the two week journey on the ship to get here.

The Commandant went to the wooden door and opened it.

"Officer 87!" he barked in a low, gravelly voice.

"Yes, Commandant, sir," said the guard on the right side of the door.

"You will oversee the new recruits. In the morning you will send the woman to me."

The guard trembled slightly. "As you wish, sir."


	2. Chapter 2

The Commandant was turned towards the wall opening, not really paying attention to the construction that he oversaw daily for many years.

He did not sleep the night before. The parts of The Spire that embedded in his flesh allowed him to go weeks without sleeping. Only week humans needed sleep.

The Commandant heard the door open. _SHE_ was here.

He continued to look out the hole in the wall, testing the woman's patience. He could feel her gaze on his back. She remained silent. Waiting.

Suddenly he turned, waiting for her to flinch at the sight of him as so many others before her had done. He was slightly surprised when her expression did not change.

He looked the woman over. Gone were the tresses he saw yesterday. Every new recruit was shaved bald and given a headband along with the uniform of a Spire recruit. The black uniform fit her loosely. The coat covered her womanly parts, making her look almost like a young boy rather than a woman. The boots were smartly polished and came to her knees.

"I am The Commandant," he said, motioning her to ascend the stairs to stand before him.

"You are recruit 273. That number is not random. It was assigned to you because I have broken 272 recruits before you. You are nothing more... than another link in the chain."

The Commandant paused a moment, trying to gauge her feelings, but she remained impassive.

"You have been brought here to oversee the reconstruction of The Tattered Spire... and to serve Lucien as he sees fit."

The Commandant noticed a slight change in the woman's eyes. What was it? Anger? Hatred? He could not tell.

"My job is to ensure the obedience of guards like you. You will do everything I tell you. No question. Failure to obey will cause the device around your neck to activate. This is not a pleasant experience. You will lose your willpower, your memories. You experiences will be drained away. This will continue... Until you submit."

The Commandant looked at Recruit 273 with interest.

"Perhaps you believe you will resist." He said. "Some try at first, a misguided sense of 'personal honor.' You must decide: Is your honor _really _that important to you?"

He gave her several moments to think about what he just said before he gestured to the spot before him.

"Now. Come here. Obey."

Recruit 273 moved with fluid grace, stopping just before him. She waited, saying nothing.

"Be still," he said, and electrical currents surrounded her. These currents did not hurt her. Whether they _did _hurt her depended on her. Rather, her actions.

"Good. Now, look over there," said the Commandant, pointing to the center of the spire.

"yet, our progress is not a miracle. It is a product of obedience."

The Commandant paused again before he drew his sword.

"Let us see how well you have learned. I am going to hit you and you are going to thank me... Because I tell you to."

He raised his sword high before using the flat of the blade to hit Recruit 273 in the stomach.

"Now. Thank me. OBEY!" he said.

Recruit 273 looked up at him with fire in her eyes. She licked her lips.

"Thank you, Commandant, sir." she said through clenched teeth.

This time he used the blunt edge to hit her on the left side of her head.

"Thank me! OBEY!" he snarled.

She shook her head back and forth quickly, seeming to shake off dizziness. "Thank you, Commanda..."

Before she could finish her sentence he used the sharp edge of the blade to slice open her arm.

"And once again, thank me. OBEY!"

Recruit 273 shook with effort. "Thank you, Commandant, sir." she panted.

He looked down at her, a sneer at his mouth.

"Very good. Dismissed," he said with a wave of his hand.


	3. Chapter 3

**I am not at all pleased with this chapter. Please please give me some pointers, ideas, whatever.**

Chapter 3

The Commandant backhanded the officer, furious.

"Did you give Recruit 273 my explicit instructions _not _to feed the prisoners?" he screamed.

"Of course, sir." Officer 162 shook with fear. "Just as you instructed."

"And where is 273 now?" asked The Commandant, looking more and more furious.

"Her collar activated. She passed out. We didn't know what to do so we took her back to the barracks."

The Commandant turned towards the wall opening. "And how many did she manage to feed?"

Officer 162 hesitated a moment. "All of them, sir."

"All?" The Commandant roared. "How did she accomplish that? Her collar should have made her pass out after the first one!"

Officer 162 remained silent, afraid of what to say, of what not to say.

"So be it," said The Commandant. "Send her to me when she awakens."

"Enter!" said The Commandant when he heard the knock at the door. The one he had been waiting for, the one who made him seethe with anger, was here.

Recruit 273 pushed open the door. Damn her! She didn't look to be suffering any ill effects of the collar activation. She should look haggard and tired. She looked neither. She looked... strengthened.

The Commandant bore his eyes into her.

"Were you not given orders to not feed the prisoners? And yet I heard you have. All of them." he panted with his rage at this maddening woman. He expected obedience!

Recruit 273 smirked, just a bit.

"They needed food, sir. They were dying without it. How do you expect to build The Spire with dead people?"

The Commandant raised his hand, activating the collar on the lowest level. He'd punish her for this!

And yet... The woman smiled. SMILED! She should be drooling on the floor! He activated the next level, then the next.

"You might as well stop there, sir." said Recruit 273. "I can withstand much pain."

"I can see that, recruit, but you cannot withstand the highest level. Feeding the prisoners did eventually incapacitate you. It will again."

The Commandant lowered his hand. He pointed to a pillar.

"I believe you know this man." he gestured to the heap on the floor on the other side of the pillar.

"Bob!" she said, rushing to him. "Bob, can you hear me?"

Bob was on the floor muttering something unintelligible, but The Commandant could catch a few words about being the next link in the chain, which made The Commandant smile.

The Commandant looked at the heap, disgusted. "Guard 268, I order you to be quiet."

The man on the floor continued to mumble as Recruit 273 stood to face The Commandant, looking angry.

"268- Shut your mouth." The Commandant turned to the woman. "Those who do not obey can be made to. But those who cannot obey are useless."

He drew a nondescript sword and held it out to Recruit 273.

"Take this blade."

Recruit 273 hesitantly took the sword in her right hand, testing its weight. She looked up to The Commandant with an unspoken question.

"Good. That's better." he said. "Now, he is useless. It is better that he is taken care of now. I order you, end his pathetic life."

Recruit 273 dropped the blade to the floor.

"No!" she screamed. "Bob has a wife! Send him home! He'll get better if you let him go back!"

"Surely you know," The Commandant said. "There is nothing beyond these walls."

"Don't be ridiculous." said the woman. "Of course there's things outside."

The Commandant tilted his head.

"You misunderstand. There is no longer anything outside these walls. Once you landed here, you became part of The Spire. Nothing outside is worth going back to."

Recruit 273 laughed. "You're mad."

"Fine." said The Commandant, picking up the sword. He then plunged the sword into the sobbing man on the floor. Directly into his head. Once the brain matter showed through the cuts, Recruit 273 screamed and tried to attack him. He activated the collar to its fullest setting, making her pass out once again.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Lord Lucian, you wished to see me?"

Lucien placed the quill he'd been writing with aside.

"Ah, Commandant. Come in, my boy," he said

The Commandant stood with his hands clasped behind his back. It made him nervous to be so close to Lord Lucien, but he didn't know why. He bowed slightly at the waist.

"What is my Lord's wish? How may I serve you?"

Lucien waved his hand dismissively.

"Enough of the formalities, my boy," he said with a smile. "We've been through a lot together, you and I."

Lucien stood and walked to the cabinet against the wall opposite his desk. He opened the left door and removed a bottle of Portentous Stout.

"Care for a drink, my boy?"

The Commandant considered that for a moment. "No thank you, Lord Lucien."

Lucien removed a glass from the cabinet, poured himself two wide fingers, replaced the bottle and closed the door. He walked back to his desk and sat down before taking a swallow.

"How goes the construction?" Lucien asked, settling into his chair.

The Commandant adjusted the fabric that covered the bottom half of his face. Sometimes it snagged on the small pieces of stone that jutted out from the line in his lower lip.

"It goes well, Lord Lucien. Everything is on schedule."

"And our guest?"

The Commandant allowed himself a frustrated sigh as his eyes grew narrow and dark.

"Garth remains impassive, my Lord. While the punishments I give him through his collar leave him a disgusting and blubbering mess, he refuses to see things your, I mean, our, ways."

Lucien slammed his fist on his desk, making the inkwell bounce just a little bit.

The Commandant showed no reaction, but for some reason Lord Lucien's display of anger made the Commandant wary.

"I have faith in you, my boy." Lucien said after taking another drink. "I know you are obedient enough to get the job done and make Garth see reason."

"Of course, my Lord, " the Commandant replied. "I assure you, he WILL submit."

Got more coming, maybe tomorrow.


End file.
